Speedway Doctor: `Nascar Never Told Me What To Say'

DAYTONA BEACH -- The chief emergency doctor at Daytona International Speedway told attorneys Monday that NASCAR never influenced him to say that a broken seat belt led to Dale Earnhardt's death at the Daytona 500.

But an attorney for a student-run newspaper that wants access to Earnhardt's autopsy photos maintained that NASCAR officials put Dr. Steve Bohannon in a position in which he couldn't say anything else.

After questioning Bohannon for three hours Monday, Independent Florida Alligator attorney Tom Julin said NASCAR officials didn't directly tell Bohannon to back their broken seat-belt theory. But he said the doctor was "put on the spot'' at a news conference called by NASCAR.

"The way they influenced him was by telling him they found the seat belt, showing him the seat belt and having him as the last witness during the press conference," Julin said. "He was placed in a position where there was a lot of pressure on him to not refute what they're saying."

Julin questioned Bohannon on Monday in preparation for a much-anticipated hearing June 11 to decide whether Dale Earnhardt's autopsy photos should be open to public inspection. Earnhardt's widow, Teresa, in February won an injunction closing the photos and subsequently won passage of a state law to close all such photos.

Teresa Earnhardt has maintained that she sought the injunction to protect her privacy and that of her family. But Julin has said he thinks NASCAR prompted the widow to file suit, in part to divert attention from whether Earnhardt might have lived had NASCAR required drivers to wear a head-and-neck restraint.

Five days after Earnhardt's death, NASCAR officials said they had discovered one of his seat belts had broken. Though the first rescue technician to reach Earnhardt's wrecked car has since said the belt was intact when he unfastened it, the racing organization has stuck to its story.

Dr. Barry Myers, a medical expert selected through a mediation agreement between Teresa Earnhardt and the Orlando Sentinel, determined in April that Earnhardt would have suffered the same skull fracture that killed him even if the belt hadn't broken. Bohannon later backed off from his theory.

After Monday's deposition, Bohannon said his only role was to explain how Earnhardt died on Feb. 18 after his car hit the wall on the final lap of the Daytona 500.

"NASCAR never told me what to say or what not to say,'' Bohannon said. "I got thrown into the public spotlight to help NASCAR explain to the media this terrible event that transpired. I don't feel like I've done anything wrong."

During the deposition, Bohannon outlined the days leading up to the Feb. 23 NASCAR news conference, when he suggested that Earnhardt suffered a fatal head injury when his seat belt snapped and his chin hit the steering wheel.

Bohannon examined the autopsy photos on Feb. 21, the day before they were sealed. At the Medical Examiner's Office, an employee told him Teresa Earnhardt was trying to have the photos sealed. Bohannon then reported what he had seen to NASCAR President Mike Helton, who invited him to North Carolina to look at a broken seat belt and attend the Feb. 23 news conference.

Julin said Bohannon revealed that NASCAR paid him $3,200 for the trip because it took him away from his job at Halifax Medical Center, where he is an emergency-room physician.

Bohannon said he told Julin that he has spoken with Earnhardt's attorneys twice since the crash. The first time was in early March, when an Earnhardt attorney called him about an Orlando Sentinel article in which Bohannon was quoted. The second time was in late March, when the Sentinel planned to take a deposition from Bohannon to ask about his role, if any, in Teresa Earnhardt's filing a lawsuit to seal the photos.

Bohannon said he told Sentinel attorney George Gabel he would not be available for the sworn statement, so they talked over the phone and Gabel released him. Earnhardt attorney Skip Eubanks said Gabel and an unnamed Sentinel reporter called Bohannon back to say he would only be released from the deposition if he would talk to the reporter. Bohannon said he refused and called an Earnhardt attorney, who then called Gabel to protest.

Reached at his North Carolina home Monday, Gabel said Bohannon misunderstood the events. Gabel said he called back to ask the doctor if he would give a statement to a court reporter -- but he refused.

"Bohannon didn't want to do that and I said `That's fine,''' Gabel said.